I am looking into the Audi A4. Since it is a foreign car and not japanese I am not familiar with maintenance costs. I keep hearing that it is very expensive to maintain and take care of. Exactly how expensive? can anyone share their experiences with this car when dealing with maintenance like oil change, rotation of tires, tune ups, or any other problems etc...? What would you say about your overall experience?Help with buying a car?Audi, Mercedes and BMW have astronomical maintenance costs and often require major service every 30k miles. Audi and BMW have a nice service feature however for the first 4 years 50k miles which coves all maintenance. However, after that it is up to you and these are not reliable cars by any measure. Expect to pay double for maintaining an Audi verses a Lexus or Cadillac.
That should be included in your decision as depreciation and maintainece costs are overlooked and your 5 year ownership costs can be double that of other makes.Help with buying a car?Well it depends where do u live. Euro is very highly rated these days, so all European products are becoming more expensive...Help with buying a car?All the people here have pretty much said it all concerning the car and maintenance. My son owns a used A4 Quattro turbo, let me give you a few examples of the cost of the car's upkeeps.
Below are what the dealer wanted to charge him.
$1100 for brakes service, replace pads and rotors.
$400 for drivebelts and wiper blades.
$600 for replacing one sidewindow,($300 for labour,$300
for part)
$200 for aftermarket battery (60 months),imagine the cost of genuine part!
$500 for replacing cracked windshield.
after seeing these maintenance bills, I ended up fixing the car for him. He bought the parts and I fixed his GERMAN car.
yesterday, i replaced valve cover gasket, spark plugs, and spark plugs coil igniters for him. it costs hime $200 for parts. Audi dealer wanted $450. hope this would give you some ideas about GERMAN cars. Buy brand new and get rid of it as soon as problems arise.Help with buying a car?They are expensive to maintain but the cars are great and well worth the cost for someone looking for safety driving dynamics and build quality over cost to own. an oil change can easily cost $100, tire rotation would not cost any more than any other car as you just have to move the tires around. They require premium fuel for most models If not all (i think it is all, but not positive). if you have Quattro, when you replace your tires you MUST replace all four not just 2. the majority of repairs do not start until the cars have 60-75K miles on them at which point they will need timing belt done and new water pump if its a turbo model the turbos usually need to be replaced by 100K and suspension usually needs to be done before 150K miles. tune ups are not outrageous but more pricey than a ford or GM. Brakes are not bad if you have them done by an independent mechanic but are costly if done by dealership.
I have owned a few Audi's and they have all been good cars i owned a Toyota Camry and it was not that much cheaper to own than the A6 that i have now but i do not use the dealership for maintenance i use an independent European mechanic. i would highly recommend an Audi to someone who is looking for driving dynamics and build quality and is willing to spend the money for it but if you just want a car to go to work in these may cost you more than you want to pay for upkeep.Help with buying a car?if it is new get a warranty. if it is not new and your getting a loan Thur the bank the bank will set up a warranty for the car.
